Cat about town Dr Seuss’s ‘Cat in the Hat’ is coming to London’s West End

EXPAT P29-31

Gifts and gadgets Christmas stocking ideas from the Telegraph team

BUSINESS P37

Topayornottopay Arianna Huffington weighs into the great online paywall debate

LO

TT

O

25/

11

3

6

11

17

23 29

Bonus Ball 44

LO

TT

O

28/

11

3

4

27

30

36 47

Bonus Ball 8

There were eight winners of Wednesday’s £6.8m jackpot but no one won Saturday’s £4.7m prize

By Richard Spencer in Dubai

LONDON’S FTSE 100 opened higher on Monday morning as investors judged that the fallout from Dubai’s debt crisis will not be enough to derail a global recovery. The index, which is made up of Britain’s 100 biggest companies, edged up 10 points, or 0.2pc, to 5,256, with a mix of miners and travel companies leading the gainers. Markets across Europe also opened higher.

The calm opening in Europe contrasted sharply with the steep falls on both the Dubai and Abu Dhabi stock exchanges. By midmorning on Monday, shares on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange had fallen 7.4pc, while Dubai’s index fell 5.9pc.

Dubai has been in the eye of a financial storm since Nov 25 when Dubai World, one of the emirates’ holding companies, told investors that it was delaying the repayment of some of its $59 billion (£36 billion) in debt. Nakheel, the troubled “Palm Islands” developer at the heart of the crisis, asked the exchanges to stop trading its bonds until it was in a position to provide further information about the restructuring exercise to which it is being forcefully submitted.

Authorities in the United Arab Emirates sought to reassure investors again when its central bank issued a statement promising to “stand behind” local and foreign

‘A new shed! That’s the sort

of vulgar excess that got Dubai in such trouble’

banks operating in the country.

“Central Bank has issued a notice to the UAE banks and branches of foreign banks operating in the UAE, making available to them a special additional liquidity facility linked to their current accounts,” it said. The facility would be at 50 points above the Emirates inter-bank offered rate.

The announcement calmed international fears about exposure to a new debt crisis from the problems afflicting Dubai World, a state-run holding company, and a consequent further credit crunch.

Earlier in Asia, the MSCI Asia Pacific Index climbed 3.3pc, with banks and South Korean conglomerate

‘I know what to do with our debt mountain - Let’s

have it gold plated’

Samsung, whose engineering arm is responsible for some of Dubai’s prestige high-rises, both doing well.

Nakheel said it wanted the exchanges to halt trading on its three major sukuks, or Islamic bonds, including the $3.5billion sukuk due in two weeks’ time that is at the centre of the liquidity problems of Dubai World, its parent company.

“Following the announcement on Wednesday November 25 from the Government of Dubai, Nakheel has today asked for all three of their listed sukuks to be suspended until it is in a position to fully inform the market,” it said in a statement to the exchange, Nasdaq Dubai.

Both emirates are rampant

with speculation about terms and conditions for a bail-out of Dubai World, but negotiations seem to be continuing at a political level even as the chief restructuring officer, Aidan Birkett of Deloitte, starts going through the books.

At issue are not only unpaid debts but also a string of unfinished property developments across Dubai — and out into the sea.

Nakheel is fully owned by Dubai World and has no listing.

Another subsidiary, DP World, though, the ports operator which bought P&O three years ago, fell 15pc to 36.6 cents, even though it has been excluded from the restructuring exercise.

Other big losers in Dubai were property companies. Emaar, another state-run firm, the largest developer in the UAE and the name behind the world’s tallest building, Burj Dubai, fell 9.9pc to 3.75 dirhams.

Like DP World, its credit ratings were cut after the Dubai government statement on Nov 25, which said Dubai World was seeking a standstill on its debt repayments while it restructured.

National Bank of Abu Dhabi, which bought into a new $5billion bond issuance by the Dubai government’s financial support fund on Nov 25, fell 9.7pc to 12.1 dirhams.

Continued from page 1 score for cleanliness. When its self-assessments were added up, it was awarded an overall rating of “excellent” for its services.

On October 15, the Liverpool hospital sent out a press release, titled “best in class, best in country”, describing how it had had the most successful result of any children’s hospital.

Twelve days later, when inspectors from regulators the Care Quality Commission (CQC) arrived unannounced, they found filthy conditions, with brown running water, mouldy bathrooms and soiled furniture and commodes.

The inspectors also found that trays used to carry sterile equipment were dirty. Domestic staff said that the parts of the wards they could not reach were cleaned just once a year, by outside contractors. The hospital was told it was failing to protect patients from infections, and

ordered to make urgent changes. Andrew Lansley, the shadow health secretary, said: “We have to move away from the flawed system of selfassessment to one where inspectors really understand what is going on in our hospitals. We need more spot inspections which focus on the results of treatment, the experiences of patients and their feedback.”

Dr Steve Ryan, the medical director at Alder Hey, said the trust apologised for the failings found by CQC during its inspection, but insisted that the faults found on the wards visited were not typical of the hospital. Ambulance services in the North East, East of England, and East Midlands have all been issued with warnings by the CQC about their basic hygiene.

The regulator for foundation trusts, Monitor, is scrutinising eight trusts that are failing to meet basic standards.

By Richard Spencer

IRAN faces international condemnation after announcing plans for a massive expansion of its uranium enrichment programme.

The country’s cabinet said it would start work on five new enrichment plants in addition to one already in operation, at Natanz, and another under construction, near Qom. In addition, nuclear experts will be asked to start looking for suitable sites for another five plants.

Iran had been expected to give a hardline response to a vote by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) last week to condemn it for keeping the construction of the Qom plant secret.

But President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s reaction went further than had been predicted and has heightened tensions. “We have a friendly approach towards the world

but at the same time we won’t let anyone harm even one iota of the Iranian nation’s rights,” he said. “We have to reach to a level to produce 250 to 300 tons of nuclear fuel per year and in order to reach this aim we would use new centrifuges with a higher speed.”

The IAEA fears that Iran will end its engagement with the international community on its nuclear programme, and may even withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Ali Akbar Salehi, Iran’s nuclear chief, said the expansion was “a firm message” to the IAEA. He told state television that the agency’s censure was a challenge aimed at “measuring the resistance of the Iranian nation”.

Any new enrichment plants would take years to build but the plans were seen as a statement that Iran was willing to risk further sanctions.